Saturday, June 19, 2010

Photo Number 227

This is a cabinet card, I purchased it in an Antique shop in Dorset, Minnesota.  Old wedding photographs are hard to come by at an affordable price, I splurged on this one it was two dollars.  Usually I try to spend no more than a dollar or less per photo. (I am a cheap skate)
Back to the photo, it almost seems as if this was a quick wedding, find some flowers and borrow a veil..and tie the knot.  I believe they both have one glove on and are holding the other. Was this a status symbol? Or just to show off the wedding rings?
I hope Norkio can fill in the blanks on this dress with the plaid inset in the bodice, I believe at one time she said that plaid materials were very expensive.
The bride has flowers in her veil and flowers stuck on the front of her dress..interesting!
Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)
Thank you Norkio for the dress update!! 
Fairly often, women wore their "best dress" for their wedding and also as their going away dress, if they were going on a wedding trip. It doesn't surprise me to see a dark dress used for a wedding. The white wedding dress was popularized by Queen Victoria, but keep in mind it also was quite an expense and a status symbol to be able to make a dress you would only wear one time. Women also often made over their wedding dress into something else, a party dress or evening dress. This portrait is from the time that women of middle class and above still dressed for each part of the day and up to four gowns a day were worn. Now THAT would be a pain in the patoot!
So, I studied this dress, and it appears that there is a plaid lapel on the dress, and there's also a bit of plaid showing at the side of her skirt on the inside of the couple. It's hiding back there. This suggests to me that the era is Late Bustle - 1883-1889. The drape on the front of her dress comes to a point above the pleated trim of the skirt. This long pointed drape is more common in the Late Bustle period from what my research tells me. Next, she has plaid at the cuff of her sleeves and a small plaid collar at the neck. Being such a small amount of plaid used may be because it was too expensive for a full dress (it takes extra fabric to match plaids), it was a remnant, etc.
The plaid at the side of her skirt could be a drape on the back of the skirt, overtop the bustle. Draping many layers was quite popular. It may also have been trim on the drape, again, if she didn't have much of the plaid, this would be one way to tie all the pieces of the dress together. Believe it or not, these dresses were often multi-piece things. A bodice and skirt, overskirt, apron/drape was a very common combination.

7 comments:

  1. Well,this is interesting. Can't wait to see what Norkio has to say on this one. You sound like me; I buy lots of antique cookbooks but I refuse to buy them for more than $3!!!

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  2. The glove thing is odd. He has his wedding ring hand gloved. Those dresses sure didn't do much to hide the hips. They might have made the waist look small, but the hips look a mile wide.

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  3. I imagine it was a second wedding for her thus no white dress. I don't think I've ever seen a bride in a dark "gown" before. Quite a keeper.

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  4. Fairly often, women wore their "best dress" for their wedding and also as their going away dress, if they were going on a wedding trip. It doesn't surprise me to see a dark dress used for a wedding. The white wedding dress was popularized by Queen Victoria, but keep in mind it also was quite an expense and a status symbol to be able to make a dress you would only wear one time. Women also often made over their wedding dress into something else, a party dress or evening dress. This portrait is from the time that women of middle class and above still dressed for each part of the day and up to four gowns a day were worn. Now THAT would be a pain in the patoot!

    So, I studied this dress, and it appears that there is a plaid lapel on the dress, and there's also a bit of plaid showing at the side of her skirt on the inside of the couple. It's hiding back there. This suggests to me that the era is Late Bustle - 1883-1889. The drape on the front of her dress comes to a point above the pleated trim of the skirt. This long pointed drape is more common in the Late Bustle period from what my research tells me. Next, she has plaid at the cuff of her sleeves and a small plaid collar at the neck. Being such a small amount of plaid used may be because it was too expensive for a full dress (it takes extra fabric to match plaids), it was a remnant, etc.

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  5. I got interrupted earlier and didn't finish my thought. The plaid at the side of her skirt could be a drape on the back of the skirt, overtop the bustle. Draping many layers was quite popular. It may also have been trim on the drape, again, if she didn't have much of the plaid, this would be one way to tie all the pieces of the dress together. Believe it or not, these dresses were often multi-piece things. A bodice and skirt, overskirt, apron/drape was a very common combination.

    I have a gorgeous blue & green plaid taffeta remnant in my store of fabrics for "future use" so I always picture plaid in these colors. In my mind, this dress is navy blue or green wool with the plaid trim in silk or taffeta, and the pleated underskirt in silk or taffeta to match the dress color.

    Hope my comments help! As always, if someone else knows better, please correct me because I am not an expert on the bustle years.

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  6. Thanks Norkio!! I always appreciate your comments on the dresses..I learn so much from you! :)

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  7. This is very similar to the wedding photo of my great-great grandparents, Henrietta (b 1840) & ? Krenz taken in Germany. I had to pull out my copy to make sure it wasn't them. The dresses in my photo are simpler but the veil with the flowers in it look the same. I wish I had their wedding date but that's one of the many missing pieces of my Grandmother's family tree.

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Hi, Thanks for the comments, your input on these old photos is appreciated! English only please! All comments will be moderated! Connie